I am taking my kiddos to the Alamo this weekend to celebrate the heroes that fought for the freedom of Texas from the oppressive Mexican regime. DD
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ?
I can hear it now.... "This is great dad!" "These guys were heroes dying for Texas" "Yes boys, they were" "Daddy, how come the USA keeps losing to Mexico in soccer" [Sigh] "We need more heroes kids....more heroes...." DD
Plumbers, clutch athletes and surgeons are heroes. Anyone who excels enough to redefine your expectations or relieves anxieties beyond your control.
hero is a subjective word, but you cant deny that there was bravery on both sides. it took balls to face certain death and go down fighting. and it took courage for some mayan indian who gets plucked out of the yucatan jungle and sent into texas during winter and storms the alamo. as for slavery, like the civil war, it was probably the main issue. mexico had outlawed slavery and the anglos were ignoring the law. but there were other factors as well. mexico outlawed further anglo immigration (which of course was ignored), established garrisons and set up customs-houses (sound familiar?). blame for the loss of texas can be placed squarely on santa anna and the mexican government. mexico was coming out of their own revolution and their government was in a state of constantly being overthrown. look at the turnover...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heads_of_state_of_Mexico and keep in mind that texas was one of about 4 revolts going on in mexico during the mid-30's. its just happened to be the only successful one. and santa anna's leadership was the key factor in losing texas. he was a poor tactician, evidenced by dallying in san antonio after the alamo, splitting up his forces, going after the government at harrisburg instead of the rebel army, not covering his retreat at san jacinto. and his massacres at the alamo and goliad only served to inspire more rebels to join - made them realize it was all or nothing. his total negligence when it came to supplies and not even setting up a field hospital after the alamo - hundreds of mexicans died of their wounds b/c there was literally no medical staff. and hundreds more died at san jacinto b/c of his order of "no quarter". w/ 20-20 hindsight one can say that mexico should have taken the united states up on one of their numerous offers to buy texas. they should have recognized that they were never able to properly settle it and that the anglos were quickly expanding and would take it anyway. they would have at least been able to settle the boundary at the nueces.
Crockett and the other defenders of the Alamo are heroes in my book. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NONil_hvUKc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
that movie gets alot of crap for some reason, but as a huge texas history buff i enjoyed it and found it to be pretty accurate. this scene you posted was kind of cheesy, but there were accounts of him and a bagpipe player going at it, sometimes "jammin" along w/ the mexican drums. billy bob's 2nd best role after slingblade. he really became crockett in that movie. and he references potatoes in both movies! remember his scene in the alamo where he talks about eating potatoes cooked in the fat of indians they burned up...i reckon slingblade would eat some of them injun fried potaters...mmmm hrmmm. ron howard was originally going to direct and he wanted to do a saving private ryan-style/realistic violent version. since it would have been rated R disney said "no way opie".
Haha yeah that's one of my favorite movies. I was surprised by the exceptional acting by all the main characters Crockett, Travis, etc. Kinda gives you chills watching it, takes you back in time.
People need to stop debating about the subjectivity of the sense of heroes and heroines. No **** its all point of view and perspective. Regardless, Texans have their heroes... Mexicans have theirs.
